Bristol launches new way to report broken street lights

BRISTOL - There is now a more efficient way for residents to report malfunctioning street lights in the city to Public Works.

An online form can be found and submitted online at bristolct.gov/streetlight and most problems will be resolved within 10 business days.

It asks the utility pole number, nearest intersection, issue with the streetlight and contact information of the individual filling out the form. Utility pole numbers can be found at about eye level with numerals with typically one to six numbers.

The City of Bristol has been receiving many reports of malfunctioning street lights from residents and police officers since it took ownership of its street lights from Eversource Energy in December of 2014 as a cost saving measure, explained Public Works analyst Sheree Pierce.

“Last fiscal year, we received about 900 complaints from different avenues regarding street lights malfunctioning,” Pierce said. “Also, once a week the police department lets us know about outages they have seen when driving around at night.”

“If there is a complaint about a light out or flickering, we send the complaint to Turri-Masterson, an electrical company out of Torrington. They do repair work for municipalities,” Pierce added.

The city is currently converting all of the street lights to LED lights and should be done by the end of the year, which Pierce explained is also a cost saving measure.

“We hope this way of reporting malfunctioning lights in addition to converting to LED lights will provide more stability and fewer repairs,” Pierce said.

Turri-Masterson is only allowed to work on the street light if they are malfunctioning. If there is a power related issue, it must be handled by Eversource, according to Pierce.

“If the power to the pole is out, then we have to go back to Eversource to recommend the light for repair. But we have no control of Eversource’s response time,” Pierce said. “This avenue is not used for recommending or requesting a new street light, only to repair existing ones.”